Chuck Palahniuk: 'Rant'

The renowned author of Fight Club returns with his eighth novel and it presents an interesting stylistic development. Developing the postmodernist concept of the meta-narrative as being central to the literature of our age, Palahniuk offers an oral biography of a white redneck who develops a disease which is slowly wiping out the human race.

The meta-narrative presents some obvious problems in understanding the central figure of the novel, in that it outlines a number of people’s views of Rant, to the extent that he has three different names throughout the novel, and it is the contradictions that could leave some readers scratching their heads. Palahniuk suggests that this style of story-telling has previously been used in George Plimpton’s biography of Truman Capote and Jean Stein’s work on Edie Sedgewick. To take this tool and relate it to a fictional character is original, but does it really work? Well, yes.

If you concentrate on who is saying what and their relation to Rant then the story offers an insight into how a family, not much loved in their community, is depicted. It is not an easy read but it is worthwhile if you are initially pulled in by the simple nature of the text. Short concise chapters make it ideal as a companion for a coffee break and the story does tend to pull the reader in and its development is nothing short of startling.

Death almost stalks the pages - if someone isn’t dying then Palahniuk is often looking at ways that the countryside can kill, with a particular fixation on spiders and dogs. Overall this is an entertaining and original story told in an interesting manner. If you have any interest in the state of contemporary American fiction then you should definitely check this out.

Published on 1st May 2007 by Doubleday.

Written by Bradford Middleton.